Michael Schofield? - Yeah thats my brother

Football - what most of us know and something that Americans just need to accept – it is the most popular game in the world. No question. In Europe it’s huge, in Asia they are fanatic, in South America there are more football goals than you would believe and in Africa it’s a way of life! People love it here and, in particular, the English premiership! People are either Man Utd or Arsenal fans (with a few Chelsea and Liverpool thrown in for good measure!). Bombo (the local town) grinds to a halt when there is a big game (the local team even cancelled there league game when Man Utd played Chelsea earlier this season – all cramming in to a local shack in Bombo to watch the game!). To fully experience the love for the game out here Karl and I played for a local team a couple of weeks ago after an invitation from one of the guys in Bombo. We travelled on the back of a motorbike (more about that later) to a ‘pitch’ about 8 miles away and played a game, in the middle of nowhere, in front of about 300 people (biggest crowd I’ve ever played in front of!). It was a great experience and a proper African game – tackles were flying in (I’ve said it before, but these people are indestructible!), crooked goal posts and sloping pitch (with pot holes everywhere!). We came on to play the second half with our team 1-0 up, me in centre midfield, Karl in the centre of defence…and soon it was 1-1!! The rain started falling but we pressed on – I almost got a shot in, before one of my team-mates cracked a half-volley into the back of the ‘net’ (metaphorical net of course). And that’s how it ended 2-1 (bloody relieved we didn’t lose it for them!), brilliant. I added a team photo in my last set of photos (the one with the yellow shirts)…

Another great football experience was watching a world cup qualifier in the national stadium (Uganda v’s Benin) last weekend. We took our local employees along as a treat (and for protection!!) and got involved, wearing Uganda shirts and dancing along to the drumbeats in the crowd. It wasn’t the best quality football, but was definitely an exciting game - Uganda had to win to stand any chance of progressing to the next stage of qualifying…and Benin were the unbeaten group leaders…some of the refereeing was a bit dodgy (apparently hardly anyone ever loses when they play at home in Africa – corruption/bribery?...surely not!)….Uganda won 2-1, but unfortunately results went against them elsewhere (Angola also winning and progressing at the expense of Uganda). It was a great atmosphere though…even when the police started firing tear gas into the crowd (this was after the local support had pelted the Benin players with bottles as they were walking off the pitch – I wouldn’t like to be around when the team loses!!)

One thing I don’t think I’ve really mentioned yet is the transport that we use to get around here. Most muzungu living in Uganda are with large charities or NGOs and thus get chauffeured around in 4-wheel drive trucks. But for us, in ‘wannabeamazin’, we keep it real and go local! The main transport between towns are called ‘taxis’…but not the taxis that you and I are accustomed – these are small mini-bus vans (about the size of a VW camper van) with 4 rows of 3 seats in the back and 2 seats (+ the driver) in the front. They are licensed to carry 14 passengers…but this is Africa and they routinely squeeze 20 passengers in…I think the record I have seen is 24! It’s not the most comfortable of experiences and the drivers are crazy – for a country that is, in many ways, incredibly slow-paced, these guys do not hang about – time is literally money for them, the faster they can get somewhere, the faster they can offload the current set of passengers and get some new ones on – they hammer it! The taxi parks, where the journeys start and begin in Kampala, are just as crazy. The best term to describe them is ‘organised chaos’ (think a huge open space, crammed with mini-buses pointing in every conceivable direction, with no obvious ‘roads’ inbetween the rows of vehicles, and the conductors trying to fill their taxis by shouting out their end destination). I don’t know how it works, but somehow it does! Crazier still is the mode of transport to get around towns – ‘boda bodas’. These are small motorbikes that get up to 4 passengers on the back before weaving through the crowded streets of Kampala (a lot of areas are grid-locked) at break-neck speeds. They are bloody dangerous (obviously no helmets) but you have little choice if you want to get to the other side of town quickly – you just have to get on, close your eyes and hope for the best! I had my first accident last week, though luckily in the more serene surroundings of Bombo. I was riding from Bajjo to Bombo on the back of a ‘boda boda ‘up the steep dirt track through the valley that separates the village from the town. Recently the ‘road’ has become really bad (the rainy season has started) and the driver slipped down a ‘trench’ in the road – to try and get out he jammed the accelerator and the front wheel just shot up in the air and we both came off the back, luckily with just a couple of bruises and scratches to show for it! To be honest I’m incredibly surprised that I have not seen more accidents since I have been over here!

My mum and her partner have been here this week and had (I think) a great time. I was so pleased that she came out – it was her first time outside Europe and to do a bit of ‘adventure’ travel and they are already talking about doing a trip to South America (that’s the thing about travelling, as soon as you do it you realise what you have been missing and get addicted!). They spent their first week in Kenya on safari (which they loved) and the second week experiencing the delights of Kampala and Bajjo…they even got themselves in a ‘taxi mini-bus’ one day to go to Jinjja (a town North of Kampala – famous for being the source of the Nile), I was most impressed! Well done mum and thanks for all the supplies you brought with you – the resource centre is looking much healthier!

Rain – we think we have rain in England – we don’t have rain, Uganda has rain! The rainy season is underway and around 4 pm most days the heavens open and water just falls from the sky for about an hour. The ‘road’ in the village turns into a river, and our backyard become a convenient lake for the grateful ducks that live next door. One benefit of living in such a wet climate is that things just grow here – if you don’t keep an area of ground clear by hoeing it every day then you’ll wake up with a jungle the next morning! Indeed, something that has just sprouted up recently in our backyard is marijuana! Huge plants of it, 10 feet tall. The thought of all the preparation that goes into growing it in the UK (silver foil, lamps, heaters etc) and here it is just growing on its own in our backyard (don’t worry mum, I have no idea how to convert it from the plant into a smokable form!)

A quick word on the work front – things are finally progressing with the cooperative I have been trying to set-up in the village - an income generation project for the women (and men) that make crafts. It has been a slow process (almost 3 months) of sensitisation, trying to convey the benefits of working as a group and selling crafts to muzungu for a higher price (we can afford it after all!). But finally things seem to be moving. We had our first official meeting of 15 members – a chairman was elected, a name chosen (‘Bajjo Craft Makers’), and a motto selected (‘The harder we work – the better we become’). There is still a long way to go, but with the financial crisis hitting most big companies in the West I think this could be an opportunity for ‘Bajjo Craft Makers’ to rise up and become a global powerhouse!!

One final thing I must admit is that whilst I love living in the village and experiencing village life, I do also look forward to going to Kampala every couple of weeks to experience a bit of luxury (by luxury I mean a toilet and a shower – not necessarily a hot shower!) and to have a beer or two in the local bars! One thing that has made this quite amusing is that, when I have a freshly shaven head, I get mistaken for being Michael Schofield (the lead actor in the series prison break). Now, I can already hear some of you laughing and scoffing at your computer screen in disbelief, but this is not the first time – when I was in the States 2 years ago with a shaved head some of the yanks also commented on the similarity! Needless to say, I’m certainly not going to discourage the comparison…and I might, sometimes, even claim to be his brother... (just a small white lie!!), hahaha!